Bangladesh women cricketers return home

Bangladesh women's cricket team pose for photographs following their arrival in Dhaka Monday Dhaka Tribune/Md Manik

Bangladesh women’s cricket team returned home Monday morning following their successful tour of Europe. The Tigresses started off with a tour of Ireland where they beat the home side 2-1 in a three-match T20I series.

Bangladesh then traveled to the Netherlands for the Women’s World T20I Qualifiers where they emerged unbeaten champion. They once again defeated Ireland in the final by 25 runs Saturday.

Both the finalists qualified for the tournament finals, scheduled to be hosted by the West Indies later this year.

The women in red and green were received at the airport by BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury and other board officials.

CEO of BCB, Nizam Uddin Chowdhury receiving the Bangladesh National Women’s team at the Hajrat Shahjalal International Airport today. The Women’s team recently won the T20 series in Ireland 2-1 and also became the Champion of Women’s World T20 Qualifier 2018. pic.twitter.com/gxyPuAujvZ

“We are proud of their achievement. They have got the expected result in the World T20I Qualifiers. I hope they will be consistent and hold onto the success. Bangladesh women’s team are yet to achieve a good result in the World Cup so now we should start preparing for that. I believe the team have all the potential to play well in the West Indies,” said Nizamuddin to the media at the airport.

“We have won three trophies at a stretch (including the Women’s Asia Cup T20I) and we do not want to stop here. We want to go further and make winning against the big teams a habit,” said all-rounder Salma.

“The feeling is amazing. We had the target to qualify for the World Cup and we have met that. We toured Ireland to cope with conditions and we did well there. We are happy that we have been able to hold onto the momentum that we got from winning the Asia Cup,” Salma added.

Bangladesh women’s team came into the limelight after defeating six-time champion India in the final of the Asia Cup T20I in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Salma urged the team to continue being consistent.

“We usually have a coach for one or two years. We got good results since the joining of our new coach (Anju Jain). I believe we will do better if she stays with us for a long time, along with our mentor Fahim sir (Namzul Abedeen). Being an experienced BCB coach, Fahim sir has been of great support to us,” Salma explained.

“The communication with our head coach has improved and she is a good friend to us. I believe she is a good match for a team like us. We are being able to share almost everything with her,” she added.

The women’s team following a week’s break will report for the national camp, ahead of the World T20I in November this year. The 10-team tournament will be held in the Caribbean from November 9 to 24. India, Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ireland and host West Indies are the other participating teams in the tournament.